The remarks were made on the sidelines of a press meet set up in Kolkata by the WBCPCR, which is organising an international conference on ‘Sexual Exploitation of Children in a Digital Era’. (Representational Image)

Around 2.4 million instances of online child sexual abuse were reported from India in 2017, the CID and West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) said on Wednesday, citing an Interpol report. The CID further said detention in such cases is challenging, as complaints do not reach law enforcement agencies in the initial stage.

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The remarks were made on the sidelines of a press meet set up in Kolkata by the WBCPCR, which is organising an international conference on ‘Sexual Exploitation of Children in a Digital Era’ in collaboration with the International Justice Mission (IJM). The conference, which will be held on December 14 and 15, will be attended by cyber experts, police from different countries and representatives of various corporate companies.

“These cases are definitely a cause of concern. Detention is most challenging in these cases as we are never informed at the initial stage. Apart from awareness amongst children and schools, socio-cultural environment also plays a vital role in combating these cases. The challenges that we face in investigation is that it is done through a virtual world. Identification of the culprit is tough because they use the dark web and servers based in far countries,” said Ajey Mukund Ranade, IGP (CID).

WBCPCR sources said that apart from India government representatives, lawyers from 14 countries such as USA, Uganda, Germany, Bangladesh, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Canada will take part in the conference.

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“This conference is a type of preventive measure to combat such crimes. This will give a huge platform to law enforcement officials of different countries to exchange their views ideas and experience. Online sexual abuse is not a borderline crime and hence this type of conference is much needed”, said Ananya Chakraborti, WBCPCR Chairperson.

To create awareness amongst children, the WBCPCR also held a competition at the school-level and 25 submission were shortlisted by a jury which includes designer Agnimitra Paul. IJM Kolkata’s director of operations, Saji Philip, said 80 per cent of children out of 2.4 lakh who are sexually abused
are girls.